Beet-harvester.



, 1 V 4 m z M y J Dm mm a D W w w 1 ll ll N H WA 1 a 9 1 1 w H. E.DALLY.

BEET HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1913 Patented Dec. *1, 1914.

2 SHEETS SHEET 2,

witvuzooen WY 3. DALLY, OF osmnm, NEBRASKA.

DEBT-HARVEST Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

Application alcd Iovember B1. 1918. Serial Io. 802,208.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY E. DALLY, a citizen of the United States,residing at ()smund, in the county of Pierce and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Beet-Harvesters, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to beet harvesters, and has for its object toimprove the construction shown in United States Letters Patent numbered762,390, dated June 14th, 1904, for beet harvesters, so that themovements of the beets may be under the control of devices which willoperate to advantage for conducting them to the topping knife orcircular cutter.

The invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arranment of parts as described herein and claimed, and as illustrated in thedrawin wherein,-

Figure 1 is a plan view 0 a beet harvester embodying my invention. Fig.2 is an enlarged detail, partly in section, showing a part of a leafcutter. Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of the beet harvester, thealininghood being in longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a side view showinga part of the carrier. Fig. 5 shows a art of the carrier in transversesection. I l i 6 is a detail view, showing means for ma 'ng a verticaladjustment of a low-arm. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail showing a part ofone of the flexible, longitudinal strips of the carrier.

Referring now to the drawing for a mor particular description, theimplement consists, in part, of a vehicle having any suitable frame,preferably consisting of side pieces a, end-pieces b, transverse bracesc and w suitably connecting the side pieces, and a lo itudinal brace dconnecting the transverse race '0 with the rear end of the frame. Thefront and rear wheels of the vehicle are respectively indicated at 8 and9.

It will be understood that sugar beets e to be harvested, are disposedin rows, and in order that they may be removed from the ground a air ofplow-members are emp ively indicated at loyed, each being respect 0 andlO, and consist of a curved blade with a forwardly pro ecting part 9,said lades being disposed transversely of the vehicle, op 'te to eachother and each being provi ed with an upwardly-pro ecting 11. The blademlow-member 10 is provided with arearw y extending and upwardly curvedprong 12 and with the air of prongs 13. The blade of plow-mem r 10 has arearwardly extending, upwardly-curved prong 12', the rear part of whichis disposed above and crosses or extends somewhat nearer to the otl'side of the vehicle than prong 12. It will thus be seen that, as thevehicle moves forward, the beets of a row ma be disposed between prongs12 and 12', an may be engaged in succewon b these prongs, and while so,engaged may carried upwardly therelietween, one beet being pressedagainst another, and on account of the curvature of the rear arts ofrongs 12 and 12', the beets will all on their sides upon prongs 13 withtheir heads toward the ofi side of the vehicle.

Immediately after the beets are disposed upon prongs 13 they will bemoved rearwardly thereof by means of arms 14 of the conveyor 15, saidarms being interposed between the rongs while mounted on 16, arrange tobe rotated by chain 17, movable by chain-sprocket 18', mounted on shaft40; and as the beets are successively moved rearwardly by operation ofarms 14, they will be deposited upon the front end of carrier 18.

In order that the tops of the beets may be removed, a movablebeet-holder 19 is provided, consisting of the endless a ma 20 disposedlongitudinally of the vehicle and mounted on the rollers or drums 21 and22. Drum 21 is mounted on the idler shaft 23 and drum 22 is mounted onthe driven shaft 24. Shaft 24 is driven by means of its gear 25 being inengagement with gear 26 of shaft 27, shaft 27 being rotated by means ofchain 28 in en gement' with the chains rocket 29, sai chain 28 workingon the c ainrocket 80 of axle 31 of the rear ve' hicle w eels.

side-by-side are outwardly-conv'ergent spacing-b ocks 82, these be ngsocured to the a non by means of pinai and they provi eoutwardly-divergent eont iner's, or kets 33' with ends opening upon oneof the edges of apron 20,

At 34 is indicated a cutter-member, preferably formed as a circular saw.It is disadiacent to the open ends of the outwardly divergent pockets orrecesses, and arallel with the edge of the'endless apron.

ember 34 is mounted on the transverse shaft 35, said shaft havinsuitable hearings in the vehicle frame and ing rotatable by means of thechain 36 in engagement with the comparatively small chain-sprocket 37and with the large chain-sprocket 38, said chainsprocket 38 beingmounted upon the rear vehicle axle.

The carrier 18 consists of the pair of sideplates 39 traversed by theparallel shafts 40, 41 and 42, said shafts being disposed transverselyof the vehicle and each provided with a pair of chain-sprockets 43.

At 44, in engagement with chain-sprockets 43, is indicated a pair ofendless chains, said chains being adapted to move the car.- rier 18,since they engage the chain-sprockets 43 of shaft 41.

B reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that shaft 41 may be rotated bychain [2 in engagement with the chain-sprocket 1-, said sprocket r beingmounted on shaft 41 and the chain 2 being in engagement withchainsprocket t of the driven shaft 24.

Disposed at longitudinal intervals of and secured at their ends tochains 44 are contact-strips 45, and at 46 (Fig. 1) are indicatedsupporting-rods, said rods being disposed between and parallel withstrips 45 and secured at their ends to chains 44. Secured end-to-end andto strips 45 are flexible supporting members 47, and it will beunderstood that the rods 46 and members 47 are for the purpose ofsupporting the beets after they have been deposited on the carrier, thebeets being disposed and carried between the upwardly projecting flangesh of the contact-strips 45.

In order that the chains 44 may be sustained substantially parallel withplates 39 and to prevent sagging of said chains, brackets 48 may besecured upon the sides of said plates and rollers 49 may be mounted onthe brackets for engagement with and to sustain the weight of saidchains.

Shafts 40 and 41 are provided with the respective chain-sprockets 50 and51, and said sprockets are provided with the chain 52.

As thus described the beets will be conducted by carrier 18 rearwardlyof the vehicle, and as they fall upon the rearwardly movable apron 20,an operator who ma be in attendance may place them suitably within thepockets 33, so that the tops may be severed by the cutting-member 34.

Since the beets may not be disposed at uniform distances from the sidesof carrier 18, and since ockets 33 have a less length than the widt ofsaid carrier, an alininghood 53 is provided, having outwardly-convergentsides 1:, and as the beets are moved rearwardly b flanges It, they maybe engaged by sai convergent sides of the hood and thereby movedtransversely of the carrier. so that they may be deposited u on themovable beet-holder. The front en of the hood is preferably secured tothe framebrace w, and is provided with hinges m so that it may beconveniently elevated when desired. 4

A mower is indicated at 55, consisting of a sleeve 56 adapted to berotated upon the axle 57 of the front wheels at a considerable speed,since it is provided with a gear 58 of limited diameter adapted toengage a gear 59 of greater diameter mounted on the stub-shaft 60, asmall gear 61 also being mounted on shaft 60 and engaging the large gear62, said gear 62 bein mounted to move with axle 57. Shaft 60 1s mountedin suitable bearings supported by bracket 63 At 64 is indicated acutter-bar suitably mounted upon brackets 63 and 65, these bracketsbeing disposed adjacent to the front wheels and suitably secured to thevehicle frame.

At 66 are indicated radially-disposed arms upon which are mounted blades67.

The parts are so arranged that only the upper ends of the beet-leavesWill be cut, for the reason that the beets often project above thesurface of the ground; but in order that the beets may be carriedthrough the harvester, the manner above mentioned, it is necessary thata considerable part of the leaves be removed, and the cutter-member 55is of advantage for this purpose.

At 68 is indicated a platform havin an inclined wall 69, these partsforming a c ute or passage way disposed rearwardly of the cutter-bar, sothat the tops of the beets which have been severed may be deposited uponthe ofi' side of the vehicle.

Arms 11 must extend downwardly from the vehicle frame a sufficientdistance so that blades y will generally be disposed below the middleparts of the beets, during operation, and since this distance may vawhen the harvester is used in different fiel of beets, means areprovided for the vertical adjustment of the mounting of arms 11,consisting of screws 70 having threaded connections ,with projections11. of horizontal plates 71, said arms being secured to and movable withsaid plates; and when moving the vehicle from one field to another orupon a highway, the blades and arms 11 may be elevated above the surfaceof the ground by means of hand-lever 72, said lever being (pivotallymounted at one of its ends, as in icated at 73, upon one of sides a ofthe vehicle frame, and pivotally mounted between its ends, as indicatedat 74, upon one of plates 71, and held in an elevated position by meansof the pawl and ratchet indicated. respectively, at and 76, the pairs oflinks 77 being provided for each horizontal plate 71, each link havingone of its ends pivotally mounted upon a side a of the vehicle frame,its opposite end being and will be under control, in,

jecting prongs ivotally mounted upon a horizontal plate 1, as plainlyshown in the drawing.

At 78 is indicated a brace-member disposed transversely of the vehicle.It extends between and is suitably secured to arms 11 above the blades 9to operate as a reinforcement for the low-arms, so that said arms maysustain t e stresses imposed thereon; and said brace also provides amounting for a part of-the rearwardly-proly described the several parts,a further explanation relating to operation is not necessary.

What I claim as m invention and desire to'secure by Letters atent is,-

1. A beet harvestencomprisin in combination with a vehicle, an end essapron mounted upon arid adapted to be moved longitudinally pf thevehicle, said apron being provided at longitudinal intervals withtriangular compartments opening on one of its edges; a circular,rotatable cutting-member dis osed adjacent to said endless apron; an incined, endless, movable carrier disposed longitudinally of the vehicle tooverang apart of said endless apron; plowmembers carried by the vehicleandprovided with u wardly curved prongs extend ingrearwar ly to overhanga part of the carrier; a transverse, rotatable shaft provided withradially disposed arms inter- Having fu peosed between the (pron of aplow-memr; and a longitu ina y convergent hood adapted-to overhang apart of the carrier and. a part of said endless apron.

2. beet harvester, comprising, in combination with a suitable frame,supporting wheels mounted thereon; vertically-adjustable low-members'carried b the frame provided with upwardly-curve ,rearwardlyextendinprongs; a transverse shaft carried by the rame while disposed below saidprongs and provided with radially arranged arms; a beet-holderconsisting 'of an endless apron; a cutter-member mounted ad jacent tosaid endless apron; an inclined carrier having one of its ends dis osedabove the beet-holder, its opposite on being disosed below the prongs ofthe plow-memrs; mechanism for moving the; beetholder; mechanism formoving the carrier, and devicesconnected with the carrier and saidtransverse shafttfor causing said radially arran edarms to moveintermediate said upwardly-curved, rearwardly-extendin" prongs.

in testimony whereof I have ailixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

. HENRY .E. DALLY.

Witnesses:

Wu. H. Sorwnz, Orro F. Panes.

